OTOP: One Time, One Place. AKA: Ichi go, ichi e, or one life, one meeting. In any encounter there is only one chance. Now is
absolute, tomorrow is only a maybe. Your whole life is in this moment.

Monday, January 28, 2008

The Best Life

Okay, I know it seems like I'm an obsessed yoga maniac after all of these posts about yoga. And maybe I am. I just L-O-V-E YOGA!! Yoga & I are in the first phase of our relationship....we want to be together everyday...we call each other on the phone each night...and we never get tired of each other! I promise the yoga talk will subside...at some point...please bare with me. On another note....

In my first post I wrote about starting the Best Life Diet in addition to doing 3 days/week of cardio and 4-6 days/ week of yoga. The Best Life Diet isn't REALLY a diet...at least, that's not the way I look at it. It's a gradual lifestyle change. I have tried a few diets before...mostly Weight Watchers..and while they work for awhile, they don't stick with me because they teach you to become hyper-focused on your food consumption from day 1. This gets to be a real pain-in-the-ass, un-natural process for me. In fact, sometimes I feel brainwashed by Weight Watchers because even to this day I think of how many points something is! Not that I'm dogging on WW....because it truly is a great program that works for MANY people....my Mom lost 45lbs on WW. It's just not for me.

The BL Diet has three phases. Currently I am in week two of Phase One which lasts one month (or longer if you are still seeing results by the end of the month), you're only supposed to weigh yourself at the beginning and at the end...but since I am brainwashed by WW (see above) I will weigh in every Saturday.

The focus is to increase your activity level and change your meal PATTERNS, not what you eat. You do this by stopping eating two hours before bedtime, eating three meals with one snack, drinking six 8oz glasses of water per day, eliminate alcohol (for the month) and take a multi-vitamin and omega-3 supplement. The supplements change depending on the person. As far as the activity goes, you establish your activity using the "activity scale" of six levels. 0 is sedentary, 5 is aerobic activity 6x/week and full body strength training 3x/week. When you establish your activity level then you just increase to the next level by doing more cardio or strength training.

This is where you stay for a month and then you move on to Phase Two, when you really amp it up by modifying your diet thru eliminating 6 foods that inhibit weight loss. You begin to explore reasons WHY you get hungry (physical & emotional) and use the hunger scale. Also, increase your activity to the next level (optional). This is the BIG RESULTS phase and you may want to stay until you are at or close to goal weight.

Phase Three helps you transition into a lifestyle that will truly stick and help you maintain your weight loss.

These three phases seem natural. You are slowly integrating your new healthy lifestyle in with your old habits. I love that I'm not asked to change everything dramatically right off the bat. Actually, I think this program requires you to practice some restraint when it comes to that "new diet" rush. I think we get caught up in the excitinment and possibility of change...not really knowing what is required of us. With this diet you're asked to NOT jump in feet first, but rather ease yourself in and get used to what you are asking YOURSELF to do.

I leave you with the Yoga quote of the day:

"Life always gives up exactly the teacher we need at every moment. This includes every mosquito, every misfortune, every red light, every traffic jam, every obnoxious supervisor (or employee), every illness, every loss, every moment of joy or depression, every addiction, every piece of garbage, every Breath." -Charlotte Joko Beck